History of the Jews in Livorno

The history of the Jews in Livorno (Leghorn in English, Liorne or Liorna in Ladino), Italy has been documented since 1583, when descendants of the late 15th-century expulsions from Spain and Portugal settled in the city. They were settled initially by Sephardic Jews from Pisa. The Jewish community of Livorno, although the youngest among the historic Jewish communities of Italy, was for some time the foremost: its members achieved political rights and wealth, and contributed to scholarship in the thriving port city. Numerous Jewish schools and welfare institutions were established.

Livorno traded with northern Europe and the Levant but declined in the later 19th century after losing its status as a free port. From a peak estimated population of 10,000 Sephardic Jews during that period, by 1904 a total of 3,000 Jews remained in Livorno, many having emigrated to other cities and nations where they were known as Grana in Judeo-Arabic or gorneyim (גורנים) in Hebrew.

The first traces of a Jewish settlement are found in documents about 1583. The Medici family, working to promote the growth of the city, its trade, the port, recruited many new settlers from Greece and the Ottoman Empire. Spanish Marranos also found a refuge there in 1590. In 1591, and again in 1593, Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany issued a charter to assure all foreigners desiring to settle at Livorno, including Jews, of the most extensive rights and privileges. Many Jews were attracted by this promise. The Jewish community of Pisa received the privilege of founding a branch at Livorno with a synagogue and cemetery. In 1597, the Jews of Livorno received autonomous rights as a community, and they built a synagogue in 1603.

The Jewish community was authorized to have complete jurisdiction in civil cases involving Jews and in some minor criminal cases. In 1593 the duke's administration appointed a special judge to the Jewish court; his sentencing could be appealed only with the permission of the grand duke. As controversies arose regarding the extent of the jurisdiction, the grand duke decreed that severe penalties, such as sentences of death and penal servitude, should be confirmed by the public court. The Livornese community had the right of succession in all Jewish cases where the deceased died without natural or legal heirs.

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